Congratulations to Devin and Erica, whose YouTube channel DevinandErica is our featured “On The Rise” partner this February. These loving parents have documented their family’s development, creativity, and silliness on YouTube for over three years, and today they’re featured in the spotlight on the YouTube home channel, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.

This channel was born when Erica was pregnant with the couple’s eldest daughter, whom they affectionately refer to as ‘Baby Bug.’ Their ‘reality show’ on YouTube has grown to include a variety of content ranging from vlogs to homemade skits to original songs, and this fun-loving family has developed a dedicated following. In fact, support from their viewers helped them with the expense of a second IVF cycle, and Devin, Erica, and Bug welcomed baby ‘DudeL’ about six months ago. After more than three years and 300 videos on YouTube, Devin and Erica have amassed a library of heartwarming moments - get to know their family with channels classics like the ABCs ‘Baby Jam' and Devin’s baby proposal, and then check out some of the other fun videos in the playlist linked below.

Here are a few words directly from Devin:

We would like to thank our subscribers first and foremost. Without you, we would not have come so far within this community. For that our utmost appreciation will now and always play the biggest role. Our subscribers have helped us grow as a YouTube Partner, as well as a family by helping give us a son just by watching and following our crazy family. For those who have not seen us before, our channel is packed full of family fun! We do vlogs, skits, and original songs about our crazy life and family in Charlotte, NC. We like to have fun and would love to have you with us! Thank you for watching and we look forward to you joining our journey.

If you’ve enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series, and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our Google Hangouts with past featured partners on the YouTube Creators channel.

You can participate and help us surface YouTube talent by nominating a YouTube partner to be considered for the “On The Rise” program. Feel free to submit nominations for your own channel, or for channels you follow that you think deserve more attention or could be the next YouTube sensation. We’ll continue to feature promising partners who have fewer than 100,000 subscribers and produce engaging content on a regular basis. See you next month!

We’re always working to bring to you the latest tips and updates so you can make the most of your YouTube experience. One of the benefits of being a YouTube partner is your ability to monetize your uploaded content, and we have a few best practices and guidelines to help you understand the monetization process. Read on to review some of the commonly-asked questions and our suggestions for how you can maximize your YouTube earnings!

Keep in mind these monetization basics:

Create an AdSense account. You can enable video monetization and display ads without associating an AdSense account with YouTube, but in order to be paid you’ll need to create - and associate - an AdSense account.

Enable relevant ad formats. Set your monetization ad defaults, and allow all ad types that are relevant for your videos.

Look at the monetization symbol next to your video.

Videos with a grey “$” button are not yet monetized.

Videos with a green “$” button have been enabled for monetization

Videos with an orange “!” symbol next to them indicate that YouTube might need more information to approve your video for monetization. In that case, check your Video Manager and your e-mail.

Make sure you own commercial use rights before you monetize.

Whenever possible, take the opportunity to be creative - create your own unique audio and visuals!

If you want to monetize a video that contains audio or visuals you didn’t personally create, you’ll need the content creator to provide express written permission for commercial use. If you have written permission to use third-party material, be sure to mention/include it when you publish a video or when asked to provide information for monetization.

Check the licenses for any audio you include, and where possible, use royalty-free music that's licensed for commercial use.

Remember that fair use is a tricky subject. Don't assume you can monetize third-party content because you’ve claimed it as fair use.

Going forward, don’t forget to:

Keep your AdSense account in good standing. Encouraging viewers to click on your ads, or clicking on them yourself, is strictly prohibited. Learn more here.

Do your homework to understand whether you actually own commercial use rights. Purchasing a song, game, or program may not mean you own the rights to monetize, and there could be consequences for claiming content you don't own.

Create family-friendly content that advertisers want to sponsor. Keep in mind some advertisers have a family audience and may not want their ads appearing next to content containing profanity, offensive, or derogatory language/images.

Follow our audience development best practices outlined in the Creator Playbook to build your fan base and increase views and watch time. Using misleading tags, thumbnails, and metadata may give your fans a negative viewing experience, reduce your watch time, and could affect your monetization status.

Thanks again for helping make the YouTube partner community so vibrant. We hope you find these tips useful, and if you have any additional questions, don’t forget about the resources YouTube makes available: monetization tips and audience development best practices abound in the YouTube Help Center, the Playbook, the Partner Forum, the Creator Hub, the YouTube Creators channel and here on the YouTube Creator Blog.

Back in September, we launched a feature that made it easier to make your YouTube video accessible in more than 300 languages and help grow your audience globally, by translating the video’s captions yourself or inviting friends or people you know to help translate. Now you can connect directly with translation vendors and pay to get your captions translated quickly and professionally.

When you request a translation for your captions in YouTube, we’ll display a list of vendors along with their estimated pricing and delivery date so you can easily compare. We’ve initially collaborated with two companies, Gengo and Translated.net, to make their services available to you and to streamline the ordering process.

Just click “Start order” next to the vendor you’d like to use. This will then create an order and direct you to the vendor’s website to complete payment. When the translator completes the translation, they’ll send the translated caption directly back to YouTube. Once you approve, the translated caption will now be available for all your viewers!

Need to add a caption track to your video?
Before you can translate your video, you’ll first need a caption track for your video. One of the easiest and quickest way to create a caption track is to create or upload a transcript of your video. YouTube will then automatically sync your transcript with the video and create the time codes to generate the caption track. For more info, watch this video or take a look at this helpful guide.

Don’t know which languages to translate your video into?
If your video has already been published, let YouTube Analytics help. YouTube Analytics can show you the top geographies viewing your video, so you can choose the languages spoken in these countries. Learn more about YouTube Analytics here.

Posted by Jeff Chin, Product Manager, who recently watched the “H+” digital series which has been captioned and subtitled into Spanish.

As you know, we opened two special collaboration and production facilities called YouTube Spaces last year in London and Los Angeles, built for the exclusive use of YouTube partners. Today we open the third — YouTube Space Tokyo — which also happens to be the first one in Asia. Located in the heart of Tokyo within the Roppongi Hills complex, this multi-purpose place will host established and emerging creators from our Partner Program to work together to cultivate big ideas and ambitious ways to tell their stories. Creators from Japan — or ones who make the voyage over to Tokyo — will have access to a variety of resources, including a production stage, a recording studio, a control room, a green screen room, collaboration spaces, make-up room, cameras, lights, mics and grip equipment available for checkout, and more. Like with the other spaces, production access is on an application basis, open to YouTube creators who qualify.Watch this video for an inside look at the Space:

In our monthly On The Rise program, we identify four partners whose channels are seeing significant growth but haven’t yet reached the 100,000 subscriber mark. Thanks to your suggestions, this month we’re bringing you four partners who are still relatively early on in the journey, but your support can help them make progress and build on their success. Our nominees for February use YouTube to share healthy recipes, demonstrate creative art projects, vlog about life in London, and share a family’s story.

Here’s where you come in - you actually have the chance to help push these partners even further on YouTube. Review their videos below, vote for your favorite here, and one of these candidates will have the opportunity to be featured across YouTube later this month. In addition to your votes, each channel will be evaluated on criteria such as viewer engagement and channel optimization techniques to decide which partner we’ll feature.

In past months, featured On The Rise partners like polcan99 and MyCupcakeaddiction have gained many subscribers and seen their careers take off, in large part due to your support. This month’s poll will be open until February 19, 5pm PT, so don’t forget to vote for your favorite channel. Check back to see which channel will be featured on February 26.

veggietorials
Cobi has been on a plant-based diet for over 10 years and has created recipes that put a vegan twist on classic dishes. Her channel hosts a ton of these instructional videos as well as some reviews on vegan products and snacks.

SheSellsSeaShellscom
Debi started designing handmade crafts in college and thrives on turning everyday and vintage items into new treasures with her DYI and crafting skills. Watch her turn paint can lids into a funky mirror and other creative projects on her YouTube channel.

DevinandErica
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Devin and Erica began uploading to YouTube before their eldest daughter was born and they referred to her as ‘Baby Bug,’ over three years ago. A self-described ‘reality and variety show,’ their channel content includes skits, vlogs, and even original songs!

emmablackery
Emma posted her first vlog to YouTube a mere seven months ago, but has already developed a loyal YouTube following. This 21-year-old from London vlogs about school, family, and relationships, and regularly hosts Q&As with her fans.

If you’re interested in participating or have suggestions for partners you think should be featured, you can nominate a YouTube partner to be considered for the “On The Rise” program. You can also check out some of our Google Hangouts with past featured partners on the Partner Support channel.

Back in December last year, we announced our second YouTube NextUp program and called for your most creative ideas of how to collaborate with other talented creators. And you didn’t disappoint! We were overwhelmed with the imaginative and ambitious proposals and those selected represent a spectrum of determined creators who are all taking their channels to the next level. From comedic musicals and adventures of remote-controlled cars to special effects and holistic living, some great “collabs” are coming from these creators soon. Meet all of them in this video and subscribe to their channels today:

Along with grant money and new production equipment, these 30 channels were also invited to come to the YouTube Space LA and get creating. They’ve spent this week attending production workshops, learning about how to build their audiences, and filming new and exciting collaboration videos. We put together a short video showing you what they’ve been up to:

We are constantly working on finding new ways to help you more efficiently manage your videos. So we’re excited to announce Bulk Actions, for everyone.Bulk Actions allow you to make one or more updates to several (or all) videos at once. Just select the videos you want to edit, then select Actions > Advanced, and choose what you want to change. You can do things like change the privacy of videos, add tags to videos, monetize videos and more.After you submit your update, you can get on with your life. There’s no need to stay on the page to wait for it to finish. This feature is available to all users in Video Manager.If you have any feedback or suggestions for more actions you’d like to see added, please let us know. We look forward to hearing what you think.Maxime Curioni, Software Engineer, recently watched The Higgs Boson Explained.

Hey everyone! I’m excited to announce that, starting today, you’ll see some channels on YouTube have a new design (including mine!). The new YouTube One Channel is only in limited beta now, but soon everyone will be able to use the new channel design. Below are some tips that will help you get ready. Also, check out my new channel and some of the other channels that are using the new design- DeStorm,EpicMealTime, SORTED, MysteryGuitarMan, LOUD and Geek & Sundry. Tips to get ready 1) Create a channel trailer to get people to subscribeOn your new channel, you can show a trailer that will only appear to viewers who aren’t already subscribed to your channel. This is your chance to let visitors know what your channel is all about and tell them why they should subscribe! Keep it short and to the point, and include a clear call to action inviting your audience to subscribe. 2) Create some channel artChannel art is how you can express the personality of your channel wherever it is seen, whether on a mobile phone, a tablet, a TV, or in a hovercard anywhere on the site! Here is a template and guidelines on how to start creating channel art that will look great.

Once you have these things done setting up your new channel shouldn’t take more than a few minutes!iJustine iJustine has been on YouTube since 2006. Her channels have more than 2.5M combined subscribers.